On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:53:01 -0400, Wes wrote:

"Ed Huntress" wrote:

What do you think about taking oil/gas under the public utility
umbrella? I like the idea but haven't quite thought it through yet.

I haven't thought it through, either, but my instinct is that it's a bad
idea. I don't think the problem is expensive gas. The problem is that we're
so hooked on petroleum. There isn't much chance of solving that issue by
political price-setting measures, which is what you'd have if you had an
"oil commission," or something equivalent to a utilities commission. People
would be screaming to lower prices for oil rather than screaming to develop
alternatives and the politicians wouldn't be able to resist.


I have a great idea, get government out of things completely. The only
thing the government seems to be able to do is introduce market distortions
that ultimately cost us.

I have far more faith in Exxon than Congress.


Wes
==========
While this is a great sound bite and has considerable emotional
appeal to us conservatives, where it falls down is the assumption
that somehow a giant corporation is not a government.

Why is socio-economic and cultural engineering any better from
the Exxons of the world than from the governments of the world?

Arrange the countries by GDP, from smallest to largest and
calculate the cumulative totals. Now compare this to Exxon's
gross sales.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTE...239419,00.html
GDP
Country BC$US 2007 Cumm $US rank (low to high)
Kiribati $0.073 $0.073 1
São Tomé and Príncipe $0.142 $0.215 2
Tonga $0.219 $0.434 3
Dominica $0.268 $0.702 4
Guinea-Bissau $0.343 $1.045 5
Solomon Islands $0.358 $1.403 6
Gambia, The $0.379 $1.782 7
Samoa $0.387 $2.169 8
Vanuatu $0.421 $2.590 9
Comoros $0.436 $3.026 10
Timor-Leste, Dem. Rep. of $0.472 $3.498 11
St. Kitts and Nevis $0.520 $4.018 12
St. Vincent and the Grenadines $0.528 $4.546 13
Grenada $0.553 $5.099 14
Liberia $0.732 $5.831 15
Seychelles $0.733 $6.564 16
Djibouti $0.834 $7.398 17
St. Lucia $0.958 $8.356 18
Guyana $0.978 $9.334 19
Burundi $0.989 $10.323 20
Maldives $1.024 $11.347 21
Antigua and Barbuda $1.079 $12.426 22
Bhutan $1.164 $13.590 23
Belize $1.304 $14.894 24
Cape Verde $1.367 $16.261 25
Eritrea $1.425 $17.686 26
Sierra Leone $1.549 $19.235 27
Lesotho $1.588 $20.823 28
Central African Republic $1.647 $22.470 29
Suriname $2.234 $24.704 30
Togo $2.393 $27.097 31
Swaziland $2.674 $29.771 32
Mauritania $2.747 $32.518 33
Rwanda $2.836 $35.354 34
Fiji $3.289 $38.643 35
Tajikistan $3.353 $41.996 36
Malawi $3.441 $45.437 37
Kyrgyz Republic $3.488 $48.925 38
Barbados $3.739 $52.664 39
Mongolia $3.854 $56.518 40
Lao People's Democratic Republic $4.008 $60.526 41
Moldova $4.021 $64.547 42
Niger $4.219 $68.766 43
Guinea $4.568 $73.334 44
Haiti $5.295 $78.629 45
Benin $5.425 $84.054 46
Nicaragua $5.675 $89.729 47
Papua New Guinea $5.914 $95.643 48
Chad $6.426 $102.069 49
Malta $6.450 $108.519 50
Bahamas, The $6.586 $115.105 51
Namibia $6.707 $121.812 52
Congo, Republic of $6.848 $128.660 53
Burkina Faso $6.858 $135.518 54
Mali $6.936 $142.454 55
Mauritius $7.030 $149.484 56
Madagascar $7.306 $156.790 57
Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of $7.322 $164.112
58
Armenia $7.802 $171.914 59
Mozambique $8.132 $180.046 60
Cambodia $8.488 $188.534 61
Equatorial Guinea $9.512 $198.046 62
Georgia $9.553 $207.599 63
Nepal $9.627 $217.226 64
Congo, Democratic Republic of $9.850 $227.076 65
Afghanistan, Rep. of. $9.933 $237.009 66
Honduras $10.059 $247.068 67
Albania $10.310 $257.378 68
Gabon $10.342 $267.720 69
Paraguay $10.347 $278.067 70
Senegal $10.701 $288.768 71
Jamaica $10.737 $299.505 72
Zambia $10.887 $310.392 73
Uganda $11.141 $321.533 74
Botswana $11.347 $332.880 75
Brunei Darussalam $12.515 $345.395 76

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...ist/index.html
[Exxon is #2 on the Fortune 500 @ 347,254.0 (sales), 39,500.0
(profits) [billions of US$] so their gross sales are equal to the
GDP of the first 76 countries ranked by increasing GDP. Anyone
care to take a guess at what percent of the world's population
live in these 76 countries?

Exxon should have a seat in the United Nations, perhaps as a
permanent member of the security council.

FWIW -- Walmart was #1 with 351,139.0 billion$ in sales &
11,284.0 billion in profits. The total 2007 gross sale of both
these two corporations are 898,383.0 billion$ US or equal to the
GDP of the first 103 countries...


Unka' George [George McDuffee]
-------------------------------------------
He that will not apply new remedies,
must expect new evils:
for Time is the greatest innovator: and
if Time, of course, alter things to the worse,
and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better,
what shall be the end?

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman.
Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).